Instead of giving people free food and housing in prisons, I imagine mandatory work sentences for minor offences. Littering? 1 year of mandatory work. Why it’s black people disproportionately getting work time? I don’t know… must be in their genes or something.
The problem with mandatory work is that someone will benefit from that work and so it'll be in their interest that more people be condemned to it. It would need to be organized in a way that companies didn't profit directly from increased convictions.
I'm guessing it was less of a suggestion and more of a guess as to "What's the most probable way that slavery sneaks back into society."
And I agree with them. Jails are already overloaded and private companies are making bank on it. I could see them offering mandatory unpaid work in lieu of jail time. Of course where you have to work would be determined by which company has the highest bid.
Also, gosh, there sure are a lot of repeat offenders in there. What a coincidence. It's almost like prisons do the opposite of reforming the people that are sucked into the system, or like once you've got a criminal record there's a lot fewer non-crime options for you once you're back out on the street.
It's not free, you get billed for it upon release. Combine that with diminished employment opportunities and you've got a recipe for repeat offenders. It's slavery but with extra steps for plausible deniability, which is still slavery.